“Is it the Coast Guard?” Landon asks.
“No, the Coast Guard has white ships. And there would be searchlights panning the water,” Burr says. “It looks like a big fishing boat.”
“Is it coming toward us? Will it see us?” I ask.
“It’s going the other way,” Dale says.
“Are you sure?” I ask. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, or if it’s the actual shape of the ship, but I think the mark looks like the silhouette of a rhinoceros. And not just any rhinoceros: the Sumatran rhino, of which there are fewer than four hundred remaining in the world. Something on the front end of it protrudes like two pointed horns, and its backside is quite broad.
It slinks along, probably ambling its way to a watering hole or another rhino. It’s the smallest rhinoceros with two horns. It seems to know that it’s rare. It’s almost like it’s afraid to turn toward us and approach. I keep hoping that it will shift its head and look at us. We don’t mean it any harm. I wave my arms.
“It’s too far away to see you,” Dale says.
“Let’s paddle toward it,” Burr says. He flings his arms in the water and begins to row. “Help me!”
I think about the sharks and I hesitate. But then Landon and Wick put their arms in the water too. I follow. We’re turning the sea around the raft white, but we don’t seem to be moving.
“Harder!” Burr yells.
But I’m already paddling as hard as I can.
“It’s too far away,” Sov says. “It’s gone.”
He’s right. One by one, we pull our arms out of the water. There is a terrible silence broken only by the sound of droplets of seawater slipping off our skin and plinking into the raft’s murky bottom. I try to offer reassurance. “If we came across one ship, we can come across another.”
Burr stares in the direction of the ship, unbelieving.
I fold my arms across my chest. Darkness arrives unequivocally, like a train. The Sumatran rhino or boat or whatever it is continues to widen the horrible distance between us. To it, we are invisible.
“Stupid rhinoceros!” I yell.
Wick kisses my matted hair. “What are you talking about?” he asks.
“Why couldn’t they see us?” I ask.
“They were just too far away,” Wick says.
It’s hard for me to accept that as the truth. But it must be true, because the gray block has disappeared. They’ve left us.
“The Coast Guard will come,” Wick says. “We’ll be okay.”
A few stars pop on overhead, and a milky quarter moon glows in the distance. Sadly, there’s just enough light so that I can make out what I think is a single circling fin. Or is it one of the ocean’s many angular waves? The water tumbles upon itself. Small mountains of water rise and fall. I put my head down. I’m so thirsty.
“We should say a prayer,” Burr says.
“Who should say it?” Landon asks.
“I could,” Dale says.
I sense a potential argument. “Maybe we should each say our own silent prayer,” I say.
“Good idea,” Wick says.
We all bow our heads; even Skate dips his a bit lower.
“God, please send the Coast Guard—immediately. Amen,” I say to myself.
I’m the first one to raise my head. I guess the others have longer requests.
Wick finishes too. He turns and reaches down, taking hold of my good hand. He gives it a squeeze and kisses my head again. Soon, everyone’s head pops back up. Praying actually made me feel better. I’m a little surprised by how little effort it took to start relying on God.
“Hey, Enid. Do you want to know the fate of your shoe?” Munny turns to face me so he doesn’t disturb Dale with more facts.
“Shark poop?” I ask.
“No, a shoe is indigestible,” Munny says. “To get rid of it, the shark will push its stomach out through its mouth. Once it gets the shoe out, the shark pulls its stomach back to where it belongs.”
My mind draws a mental picture of what he’s said, and I think of the shark vomiting up my mother’s white pump by expelling its own stomach into the ocean. I wonder if that’s what sharks do with bones. For them, are bones digestible or indigestible? I thank Munny for his information. But really, I wish he hadn’t mentioned it. For the time being, I know all that I care to about sharks.
As night fully sets in, we start to doze. Skate has been sleeping for hours. Burr sits next to him, propping him up. Should I offer to do that? Do I have the strength? No.
“I’m going to rest,” I say. I’m getting cold. I’m tired. Sleep feels better. It’s okay if I sleep a little now. I rest my head in Wick’s lap. He holds me by my shoulder and lightly rocks me. It’s easy to drift off.
“Sweet dreams,” he says.
I think I’m dreaming even as he says that. I feel like I’m at home. I see my room. I’m in it. Walking across the maple wood floors. My feet in socks. I am in two places at once. Here and there. As I zone out, I hear Wick and Landon speak in whispers. I think they are actually trying to have a conversation without my hearing them. Why? Why would they want to keep anything from me? Do they know something terrible that they don’t want to tell me? I don’t open my eyes. I listen.
“I’m trying to tell you that it’s okay if Burr didn’t call the Coast Guard, because she would have called the following day. Either way they’re looking for us,” Wick says.
“I don’t know if that’s true,” Landon whispers.
“Yes,” Wick says. “She’ll know from the text. When she showed up for breakfast she’d see the van, the empty boat slip, and put two and two together.”
“You said nothing had been set in stone,” Landon says.
“Right,” Wick says. “But then I decided to invite her and I texted her. We used your phone, remember?”
Who are they talking about? Who did Wick text? I think back to the fact that the battery had died on his phone. Something is wrong. Is Wick seeing somebody? Was I right all along? I speak.
“Who are you talking about?”
“Nobody,” Wick says. “Go back to sleep, Enid.”
“I’m going to tell her,” Landon says.
“She should know,” Munny says from across the raft.
“What?” I ask.
“I’ll tell her,” Wick says. He traces his finger along my arm. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s stupid. But after we decided to take a break, since I was going to be down here, I called Simone. We were supposed to meet for breakfast,” Wick says.
Simone? Call? Breakfast?
“That’s not the total truth,” Sov says. “Tell her the total truth.”
“Tell me,” I say.
“We talked on the phone. We were going to hang out. We were just going to have fun together,” Wick says.
“You came to Maryland to have fun with Simone,” I say. “That’s why you came.”
“No,” Wick protests. “I came for Burr and Skate and the last party before they head out to college. The Simone situation just happened.”
I pull away from Wick. “No, the boat sinking just happened. The Simone thing was planned.”
I try to stand. I feel so dizzy. The raft wobbles beneath my weight.
“Sit down!” Burr says.
I sit back down.
“What a mistake,” Dale says. “You never should have told her.”
“Shut up,” I say. I hold my head. It’s pounding.
“Wick, why don’t you go sit next to Dale?” Landon says.
“Let’s talk,” Wick says, holding on to my leg.
“No!” I yell. “Let go of me.”
He doesn’t let go of me.
“I want to sit next to Munny and Sov,” I say. I feel like I’m dying inside and out. As I leave my seat I tumble, and Landon catches me. “Were you going to tell me?” I ask. “Were any of you going to tell me?”
I take a seat on the other side of Munny.
“I thought about telling you when I found you in t
he bathroom,” Sov says.
My mind sticks there. What if he had? Or what if I’d gotten off the boat before it had sailed? What if I’d made Landon come with me? What if I’d gotten so upset that I ruined the party and everyone got off the boat? I could have changed everything. We could be safe.
I hear myself scream. Skate lifts his head. “What? What? Enid are you okay?”
I look at Skate. He is wasting away. I can see the bones under his eyes. He looks like he’s lost twenty pounds in two days.
“I’m okay,” I say.
“You screamed,” he says.
“She’s a drama queen,” Burr says.
I shake my head. “I am not.”
“Your problems are nothing like mine. And do you hear me screaming?” Burr asks.
I think about his problems. He’s an orphan. His twin is dying. And it’s his fault we’re all in this disaster. But I’m adrift at sea with a broken heart. All of our lives are terrible. Why am I still trying so hard to be right? Shouldn’t I say something to make Burr feel better?
“You’re right,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
To my surprise, Burr doesn’t accept my apology. He doesn’t say anything. He continues to hold his brother and glare into the sea. We drift. I listen to the small waves pushing us farther out to sea. They create a rhythm. My thoughts fall in sync with them. Wick is a cheater. Wick lied. Wick is rotten. Get over him. Get over him.
“I have something I need to say,” Landon says.
I think it’s going to be a condemnation of Wick. Because he should be condemned. I can’t believe he was this dishonest.
“I never sent Simone that text message,” Landon says.
“What do you mean? I was standing right there,” Wick says. “You’re remembering things wrong.”
“No, I remember,” Landon says. “I wrote a text message. I typed what you told me to and I deleted it. I wasn’t going to help you set up a date. I’m Enid’s brother.”
“Oh my God,” Wick says.
“I know,” Landon says.
“So she doesn’t know. Because she didn’t come. So she wouldn’t have notified anybody,” Wick says.
“Right,” Landon says.
Burr never jumps in and claims that he called the Coast Guard. Why doesn’t he? He just stares blankly into the distance.
“Burr, are you okay?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer my question.
“I’m tired. I want to go to sleep,” he says. He rests his head on the side of the raft.
It is stunning to think that Simone could have been responsible for my rescue. But she won’t be. My hate for her begins to boil again.
“Enid,” Wick says. “Are you okay?”
My hurt is exhausting me. I can’t even answer him. As Burr sleeps, he stretches his legs out and they cross over mine. His jeans lift up and I can see his calves. They are covered in sores. I feel a hand on my own leg, and I jump. It’s Munny.
“We can hope Burr called the Coast Guard,” Munny says.
“Wouldn’t they have been here by now?” Sov asks.
If Burr didn’t, who would? The guys aren’t expected back for another day. And while I am officially missing, nobody knows where to look for me. Why didn’t I leave a note with the marzipan? Why didn’t I take the time to explain things to my mom and then abandon her?
The world feels so cold. But I won’t give up. “Chances are we’ll see another ship,” I say. “This is the ocean. It’s full of boats.”
“It’s full of sharks,” Dale says.
“Don’t say that,” I plead. My world has been turned upside down, but I don’t want to give up hope. “I feel like another ship is really close. We need to get some sleep. We can look for more boats in the morning.”
“Yeah,” Landon says. “That sounds good.”
I wait for Sov and Munny to correct me and say that we’re too far away from sailing routes to encounter more ships, but they don’t. The silence bolsters me. It doesn’t take me long to find the silver lining in Wick’s betrayal. I have good instincts. Because if I was right about my Simone suspicions, I could be right about my boat suspicions. Even with a broken heart, I feel excited. As I let my head fall against my chest, there is a piece of me that looks forward to morning and what it might bring.
I’m in so much pain that my excitement fades quickly. The sores on my legs and arms have grown worse, and it makes it tougher to sleep. My lips are cracking. My tongue doesn’t even feel like a tongue anymore. It’s hard to sleep. Because my sadness nags at me. I drift off and wake up, feeling shattered.
Darkness lifts. This has been our second night in the water. The sun is starting to come up, casting a soft light on us. We are all exhausted. Everyone is sleeping except for me and Burr. It’s Burr’s turn to watch for the Coast Guard. Skate’s condition is really weighing on him. I feel sorry for Burr, and I want to talk to him. I keep thinking back to what he said about his problems being worse than mine. I want to talk to him about this. Maybe if we talked he’d feel better. Wait. I shouldn’t talk to him about his problems. What he needs is to start thinking about his future. Eager to cheer him, I launch ahead.
“College starts soon,” I say.
Burr doesn’t respond.
“Do you know where you’ll be living on campus?” I ask.
“What?” He scowls at me.
“When you go to BYU,” I say. “Is it set where you’ll be living?” I think this should buoy him, getting him to think about the stuff he has to look forward to.
“I don’t want to talk about that,” he says.
“When do—”
He cuts me off. “I don’t want to talk at all.”
“Okay,” I say.
Burr is coming unglued. Landon says he drank more than anybody else. And after Skate, he looks the worst. His eyes are already sunken. I should give him what he wants. Silence. But it’s hard to stay totally awake without conversation. I drift asleep. I’m not sure what wakes me. It might be the sound of water.
As I wake, I notice Burr leaning over the side of the raft. His back is to me, so I can’t see exactly what he’s doing. I think he’s laughing. Wait. He’s trying to block my view. I understand what’s happening. Anger sweeps over me. I bet Burr has caught a fish. I bet Burr has caught a fish and he’s not sharing it with anybody, not even Skate.
“Burr!” I scream. “Burr, what are you doing?”
Next to me, Landon jolts awake. “Do you see a ship?” he asks me.
“No, Burr is doing something. I think he’s caught a fish.”
Everybody is waking up now, even Skate. Burr slowly turns around to face me. His chin is glistening with water.
“Where did you get water?” Landon asks. “Do you have water?”
At first, Burr doesn’t respond to Landon. He just smiles at us. I count as three tear-shaped drops bead onto his gray T-shirt. I can’t believe he has water. I can’t believe he wouldn’t share.
“I’ve had it the whole time,” Burr says.
His voice is wavering. He sounds like he’s going to start laughing.
Dale lunges for Burr, and Wick has to hold him back by his pants.
“You make me sick,” Dale yells. “We’re dying. How can you hoard water from us? I bet he has the Doritos too.”
Burr tilts his head up to the sky and howls. The sound is bone-chilling. He repeats it again and again. When he finally stops, Skate speaks.
“He’s been giving me water,” Skate says. “He hasn’t been hoarding it.”
This makes no sense to me. How can Burr have any water? Where did it come from? Then I notice his feet. He’s put one shoe back on. The other is sitting next to him, filled to the brim with water.
“He’s got water in his shoe,” I say.
Dale lunges for it.
“Don’t drink it!” Sov yells.
“Dude, I’m taking the first swig and then I’ll pass it around.”
He lifts the heel of the sneaker to his mouth and ti
ps the water in. Immediately, he spits it out.
“It’s salty,” he says. “It’s seawater.”
Burr is laughing. “It’s all mine. It’s been here the whole time.”
“Burr, you can’t drink that,” Wick says, fear in his voice. “It’ll make you sicker.”
Burr stands up. The raft sways unsteadily beneath his feet.
“It’s made me feel so much better,” Burr says. He howls again, and then sits down. “The bad water is on top, but if you reach down deep enough, it’s good.”
I close my eyes, but I can’t fall asleep. This is too terrible. Why did Burr do this? Now he’s going to die. And he’s going to kill Skate too. I try to pretend none of this is true. I imagine our rescuers and what they’re doing right now. They are in a ship looking for us. Talking about how we are like their own sons and daughters. They won’t give up because people don’t give up on their sons and daughters. I focus on my breathing. When I open my eyes, the Coast Guard might be here. A large white ship will be perched next to us, people waving at me from its bow, strong men tossing life preservers to us.
But I won’t swim to them. Not with the sharks. They will have to come and get me. They will have to bring me to their ship and haul me aboard. When I step onto their deck, they’ll give me water with large cubes of ice stacked in a glass like blocks. I’ll drink it down and slide an ice cube into my mouth. My mouth will feel wet again. The Coast Guard will come, and they will give me everything I want.
“Coast Guard!” Burr yells. “Coast Guard!”
I open my eyes. I don’t believe it. My dream has become my reality. The sun is a pink, happy color, staining the sky salmon. My heart is pounding.
“I don’t see anything.” My mouth is so dry that it’s difficult to talk.
“There,” Burr says. “It’s right there.”
We’re all awake. But we’re not searching the empty water. We’re watching Burr.
“You should sit down,” Dale says.
“Are you blind?” Burr says. “They’re waving to us. Can’t you see them?”
There is nothing there. The sharks don’t even seem to be here this morning. The ocean is a blank slate.
“Get up and wave!” Burr shouts. “Let them know we see them.”
Sharks & Boys Page 14